slack(8)						      System Manager's Manual							  slack(8)

NAME

       slack - Sysadmin's lazy autoconfiguration kit

SYNOPSIS

       slack [option ...] [role ...]

DESCRIPTION

       slack is a master command which coordinates the activities of its backends, which variously:

       o      determine the list of roles to be installed on this server

       o      create a local cached copy of the role files from the central repository

       o      merge file trees from subroles into a single, unified tree

       o      install files onto the local filesystem

       o      run scripts before and after installation

       Options you give to slack will be generally passed along to the backends where relevant.

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
	      Print a usage statement.

       --version
	      Print the version and exit.

       -v, --verbose
	      Increase verbosity.  Can be specified multiple times.

       --quiet
	      Don't be verbose (Overrides previous uses of --verbose).

       -C, --config FILE
	      Use the specfied FILE for configuration instead of the default, /etc/slack.conf.

       -s, --source DIR
	      Source directory for slack files

       -e, --rsh COMMAND
	      Remote shell for rsync

       -c, --cache DIR
	      Local cache directory for slack files

       -t, --stage DIR
	      Local staging directory for slack files

       -r, --root DIR
	      Root destination for slack files

       --no-sync
	      Skip the slack-sync step (useful if you're pushing stuff into the CACHE outside slack).

       --no-files
	      Don't install any files in ROOT, but tell rsync to print what it would do.

       --no-scripts
	      Don't run scripts

       -n, --dry-run
	      Same as --no-files --no-scripts  (CACHE, STAGE will still be updated)

       --role-list
	      Role list for slack-getroles(8).

       -b, --backup
	      Make  backups  of existing files in ROOT that are overwritten.  This option defaults to on if it is not set to 0 in a config file or
	      disabled with --nobackup on the command line.

       --backup-dir
	      Put backups from the --backup option into this directory.

       -H, --hostname HOST
	      Pretend to be running on HOST, instead of the name given by gethostname(2).

       --preview MODE
	      Do a diff of scripts and files before running them.  MODE can be one of 'simple' or 'prompt' (See PREVIEW MODES, below).

       --diff PROG
	      Use this diff program for previews.

       --sleep TIME
	      Randomly sleep between 1 and TIME seconds before starting operations.  Useful in crontabs.

PREVIEW MODES

       Preview functionality is new in slack 0.14.0.  I haven't quite worked out how things will work, so this usage is somewhat subject to change
       in future versions.  I thought I would try it this way and see how people like it.

       In  'simple'  mode, after syncing and staging the files directory, slack will present a diff of the files and scripts.  In this mode, slack
       will not run the preinstall or fixfiles scripts, and because of this, it may provide some false output about permissions changes to files.

       In 'prompt' mode, after syncing and staging the files directory, slack will diff the script directory.  If  there  are  differences,  slack
       will  present  them  to	you  and ask you if you want to continue.  If you say no, it will exit.  If you say yes, it will stage the scripts
       directory, run the preinstall and fixfiles scripts, and then diff the files in the stage with those in the root.  If there are differences,
       slack  will  present  them  to  you and ask you if you want to continue.  If you say no, it will exit.  If you say yes, it will install the
       files and run the postinstall script.

       So, the 'simple' mode is easy to use, and will be accurate if you don't use fixfiles.  The 'prompt' mode will be accurate if you  use  fix-
       files, but requires some interaction.

       Why  can't  we  just have one mode that works with fixfiles and requires no interaction?  Well, that would require slack to understand what
       your free-form fixfiles executable was going to do, which would either require some kind of universe simulator  or  would  require  you	to
       write your fixfiles in a less free-form way, which would make slack less like slack.

EXAMPLES

       To install all the roles configured in the role list for a server:
	      slack

       To install a specific role:
	      slack rolename

       To test a new role before checking in the changes:
	      slack --source user@workstation:/home/user/.../slack rolename

       To avoid killing your master server when calling from cron:
	      slack --sleep 3600

FILES

       /etc/slack.conf

SEE ALSO

       slack.conf(5), rsync(1)

Administrative commands 					    2004-10-22								  slack(8)